Reviews by Citizen Caine

Rather good made for TV murder mystery with a top notch cast including Stanley Baker (certainly a favourite of mine), Frenzy's Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Only Fools and Horses's John Challis and even The Spy Who Loved Me's Cyril Shaps (he played Dr. Bechmann, for those who can't remember him). The story concerns the murder of a wealthy, well respected businessman, and the rumours circulating around his private life. Baker is the inspector sent to investigate and in doing so uncovers plenty of twists. Considering the very cheap budget, all in all this is a thought-provoking thriller but there are a few flaws concerning the plot (the murder weapon for one) and Baker isn't given enough screentime or character development to really show off what a fine actor he was. The recurring gag of 'Don't call me sir' and 'Call me sir' is rather amusing. Decent.

3/5

Going into this French-language progaganda film, I didn't know what to expect. It's running time is just over 24 minutes, and thus I was interested to know what Hitchcock managed to do in such a short space of time. It tells the tale of a young RAF pilot, who gives his version of how he managed to escape from German-occupied France back to Britain, the twist being that his version of the story is not entirely correct. But it's the twist that, although being the whole point of the film, undoes the film somewhat as it swings from a morale-booster to suddenly telling the audience how ineffective the French Resistance is. It's well made but has none of Hitchcock's technical mastery, tension or a great performance from his lead actor. But at less than half an hour long, what should I have expected?

3/5 for historical purposes only.

Solid thriller with Michael Caine out to foil a KGB plot to destroy NATO, whilst on the way uncovering a web of lies and deceit as top British and Russian spies try to outwit each other by passing on documents containing plans to blow up an American airbase, in East Anglia, with a nuclear weapon. Pierce Brosnan is the KGB agent assigned to help assemble and detonate the bomb. There are a few nice twists and the film whisks along at a good pace, but the acting isn't great - particularly from Julian Glover as Caine's boss who rather overplays his role, but the score, decent cinematography, plot and a little bit of classic Caine badassery (this time dispatching racist skinheads on a train), make up for it. Thus ends probably my most gramatically incorrect and rushed review ever.

4/5

Like 1948's Rope, I personally feel that Number Seventeen would probably have worked better as a play, in this case as originally intended. It's interesting to see that Leon M. Lion (who I remember from The Amazing Quest Of Earnest Bliss) is credited as the main star even though he plays a secondary character, although he is probably the best thing about this film with plenty of comedic appeal. Similarly to Rope again, this film is technically brilliant with atmospheric, shadowy, brilliantly lighted opening scenes as well as a thrillng climatic chase between a train and a bus, but the story itself is relatively simple but very effective. In fact a lot more effective than Rope. John Stuart, despited being a Scotsman, plays a typical cinematic English gentleman of the era and Ann Casson overplays her role but is nice enough before being put to one side when Anne Grey enters the picture. The fight scene near the middle of the film, is still pretty damn good, although it begins to drag and in doing so, the sped up film becomes more noticeable and rather dated.
A minor but entertaining Hitchcock thriller.

What a great film. I can't understand why this doesn't get more appreciation than it does. On the surface, it's a simple sporting tale as a young man progresses in his boxing career to win back his wife from another lover of hers. And yet, there's so much more to this film than that, mainly the astounding and ingenious technical aspects to the film such as the the scene of the notice board changing throughout the seasons as Carl Brisson's "One Round Jack" defeats his opponents until he is left fighting Ian Hunter's Australian champion who stole his wife's love. The visual metaphors such as the snake bangle reresenting the original sin of Adam and Eve as well as every circular object reffering back to the film's title is just brilliant, and it amazes me that Hitchcock uses such metaphors so early on his career. Hithcock's "Pure cinema" ideal is used to perfection here as of course, there is no sound. The only thing that let's the film down is it's ending which I find rather difficult to believe. Other than that, The Ring is excellent.

Enters so bad it's good on so many levels, this seventh entry of The Man From U.N.C.L.E series would have benefited a huge deal from a bigger budget. The plot is far superior and yet simpler to most of the previous films, with Bradford Dillman's arch criminal after the deadliest weapons on the planet in order for his religious cult, "The Third Way", to take over the world via a train robbery. The final fight is also reminiscent of 1962's Doctor No. Other than that, the rest of the film relies on the same old formula of Robert Vaughn's coolness, David McCallum's bravery, a beautiful girl (Carol Lynley delivers the goods and gives a bubbly performance) and a badass secondary villain, this time in the form of John Dehner's power-crazed Doctor - he had huge shoes to fill after Curd Jürgens' awesomeness in The Karate Killers, which was the sole reason why that particular film was just about half-decent. But of course, like the whole of this series, you have to take this film with a huge pinch of salt and your tongue firmly in your cheek. It's technically a monstrosity and yet complete and utter fun.

Very good indeed. Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger are naturally excellent, and there's a real sense of uneasiness right from the start of the film as the classic title song plays through shots of the train entering Mississippi. Right from the off the audience is throw into a murder case full of mystery, lies and deceit with strong overtones of racial prejudice as you would expect from a film of this era set in the deep south. Poitier plays Virgil Tibbs, a police officer from the North who gets unwillingly caught up in solving the crime, allowing time for plenty of badassery as he fights off the racist locals and deals with the corrupt police. Quincy Jones delivers a moody score that gives the film a raw edge, although nothing is more memorable than what he did with The Italian Job. The plot itself is engaging enough, if rather simple, but when it's made so well, who cares? An effective crime thriller.

4/5

*Possible Spoilers*

Sublime. While it takes a while to get going, once the Macguffin is introduced in the guise of a myesterious ring, I was hooked. While at first I wasn't sure Joseph Cotten (who is an actor I greatly admire), was completely believable as the 'good Uncle Charlie', I came to realise that it doesn't really matter, it was never really the intention for him to start the film as a 'nice guy', that it was more to do with him brainwashing his loving family. I fell in love with Teresea Wright as 'Young Charlie' and could understand how quickly Macdonald Carey's detective did as well. I feel it was unfair that Truffaut, in his Hitchcock book, critisised Carey as a poor casting choice as I think he did a very good job. He wasn't supposed to stand out from Cotten. Cotten himself is excellent playing Uncle Charlie with a cold steeliness and vice. I love the great little touches such as his encounter with the widow at the bank and of course his various outbursts throughout the film. Enjoyed Hume Cronyn and Henry Travers as well. Hell, the whole cast are great. Stand out scene? I personally loved the scene where Cotten walks up the stairs and turns to see young Charlie, who appears heartbroken.
What a wonderful film.

5/5

Superb war drama with Marlon Brando giving an excellent performance as a self described "German patriot" hired, by British colonel Trevor Howard, to infiltrate a Nazi ship carrying rubber essential to the allies. Brando poses as a top ranking officer of the SS to fool Yul Brynner's crew. Whilst Brando is undertstandably brilliant, Martin Benrath stands out as Kruse, a Nazi crewmember who gets increasingly uncomfortable when Janet Margolin's beautiful Jewish aid-worker is taken prisoner aboard the ship. Jerry Golsmith's score is very memorable and the opening theme is reminiscent of Anton Karas's composition for The Third Man. The photography is shadowy and moody, adding a tense atmosphere to the proceedings particularly to the exciting and shocking climax to the film. My only criticism's are that, at first, Brynner is not that convincing and the film seems a tad overlong, even if it is only two hours. Still, this a a riveting piece of cinema.

4/5

The second best of the Superman series for me for multiple reasons. Christopher Reeve is at his best and plays the Superman/Clark Kent dual role perfectly. The action is more exciting this time round, albeit the weak climax. The three villains from Krypton are menacing and Gene Hackman is spot-on adding a comedic touch to the film as Lex Luthor. My favourite scenes are the ones at Niagara Falls - the romance between Clark and Lois is excellently done. The real downside for this film are the rather poor special effects, a trend that continued and got even worse by part IV. I understand they were great at the time of course, The other downside is the previously said weak climax. The villains were defeated too quickly and in a rather uninspiring fashion. Still, for the most part this is a very good film. I really want to see the Richard Donner cut of the film now.

4/5

The Superman Series

1. Superman (1978)
2. Superman II (1980)
3. Superman Returns (2006)
4. Superman IV : The Quest For Peace (1987)
5. Superman III (1983)